


Sunflower Seeds

by Phiso



Category: CLAMP - Works, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-10
Updated: 2015-11-10
Packaged: 2018-05-01 00:37:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5185526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phiso/pseuds/Phiso
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kurogane would do anything to keep him looking like the sun.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sunflower Seeds

**Author's Note:**

  * For [quinconcinnity](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=quinconcinnity).



> Another story I fulfilled for an auction, this time the qldfloodauction on LJ. The story was written for quinconcinnity, whose infinite patience was most appreciated.
> 
> Thanks to my 2011 betas, super_seme04 (@LJ) and Apple. Did a quick look-over in 2015 before reposting here.

It still bothers Kurogane to remember that for so long, Fai only avoided injury because he disliked physical pain. That’s not so anymore.

_Look, Kuro-myuu! What a beautiful flower._

Now, Fai smiles and dances and sings like he did when they first met, all light steps and bright eyes. This is the only thing that’s different – the bright eyes. Before, the grins and teasing winks were all tainted with that sharp blue gaze of his, hardened with false memories of murder and real memories of piles and piles of corpses. Kurogane didn’t trust him back then because he could tell Fai was hiding something and it bugged him, knowing that the idiot only called him Kuro-tan and Kuro-puu and Kuro-wanwan just to distract him from the darkness eating away at him.

But then all the lies were unraveled and all their truths were spoken aloud. And Fai, always as flippant as a summer breeze, could finally fly free.

_Do you know what they call it here? In this world, they call it a sunflower._

_Fitting, isn’t it, Kuro-rinta?_

 

 

Kurogane, for a brief time, had been silly enough to think that the tests were over, and that they would live life in peace for awhile. And yet, here they are, back to back once more, faced with the consequences of what is yet again perceived as an incursion. He shifts his weight and Fai shifts with him, the two of them smiling grimly at the circle of swords pointed at them.

“Palace guards?” Fai ventures.

Kurogane can tell, just by the sound of his voice, that the magician’s eyes are surveying the haughty faces of the men threatening them. The smile playing on the wizard's lips is as loud as any word could be, and despite himself the ninja can feel a tugging against his glower. The blond’s staff looms over their heads, creating an odd shadow over the pair in the bright moonlight.

“Most likely,” Kurogane grumbles, just as familiar with the type as the man behind him. Ginryuu glints in his grip, its lethal blade practically glowing in contrast to the dark, black steel of their foes, and Kurogane feels an old familiar sense of satisfaction at the look on their faces as they warily take them in.

“What belligerents,” Fai laughs. Kurogane can see the crowd around them visibly stiffen. “We haven’t even done anything.”

_Don’t scowl like that, Kuro-puppy; your face will wrinkle. You don’t want to look like an old man, do you?_

 

 

_I wonder if all worlds have sunflowers._

This world is dark, permanently enshrouded in nothing but moonlight, its sky so ruined it only ever glows red. The people, too, are dark, their eyes, skin, hair, clothes, even weaponry reflecting the shadows they inhabit. To them, Kurogane muses idly, Fai must appear ethereal, otherworldly.  
_  
It’s a nice thought. A universe populated with flowers as bright as the sun._

“I assure you,” Fai says with a smile as he lowers his staff slightly, "we don’t want to hurt you. We just want our friend back.”

“Don’t lie to us,” one of them barks, a pungent voice lost in the crowd. “We know your type - ”

“Oh, do you?” the blond titters and the ninja groans. Kurogane knows instinctively that Fai is beaming, and he elbows the wizard hard in the back.

“Now’s not the time,” he growls. Even though some things have changed, some things remained the same - and frankly, it was still exhausting keeping up with an enigmatic fool who willingly walked into danger just to see if he’d walk back out of it.

Fai merely sighs. “Such a shame, this world,” he says sadly. “They’ve been in the darkness too long. They’ve probably never even seen a sunflower.”

_And Kurogane gets an idea._

 

 

“Leave this place,” one guard orders at last, stepping away from the others. He is tall and fierce and apparently very good at propagating anger; the others, heartened by his courage, raise their weapons higher, their bodies bending into stances ready for attack.  
_  
And so, when Fai isn’t looking, Kurogane goes to the market place and makes a small purchase._

“We want to,” Kurogane snaps, changing his stance right along with them. “But we’re not leaving without the boy.”

“And the dumpling rabbit,” Fai adds helpfully.

_The woman at the market stall nods and points, speaking a language that Kurogane can just barely understand this far from Mokona, but he understands enough._

“They’re not here,” the guard responds, but Kurogane sees right through his words, because if the man were telling the truth, they wouldn’t be having this conversation.

“Liar,” he growls, and he moves forward threateningly. The others instinctively move away.

“Give them back,” Kurogane demands slowly, “or we will take them back.”  
_  
It doesn’t take much._

 

 

 _He has no magic, but that is not a problem. The Watanuki boy, Syaoran’s mirror and now the Time Witch’s successor, is easy enough to contact, and with the right bribes even Mokona can keep quiet._  
  
There is a ringing silence, and a breeze brushes by them hesitantly, as if afraid of being the tipping point of a terrible battle.

Kurogane hears Fai’s sigh, senses his head drop, and feels his stance change into something considerably more threatening. The ninja follows suit.

“Your princess never took that curse off of you, did she?” Fai muses. Kurogane lets out a bark of a laugh, surprised that the other remembers.

“We don’t have to kill them,” he smirks. “We just have to make sure they can’t hit us back.”

Fai chuckles. “It’s your strength.”

And with a string of words etched by the wizard’s hand and the sharp clang of steel against steel, they begin.

_The price is not high. At least, not to him._

 

 _They leave this world,_  
  
Two parries before a strike, a vicious strike downwards that summons a dragon of wind. A yell is heard and legs bend, the body’s center of gravity smoothly shifting from left to right and taking the deadly sword with it. It is swift and strong and far too fast for them, and one by one, the men fall, not dead but far too terrified to stand back up again.

 _a world filled with endless meadows of life,_  
  
Symbols in a language no one else can read crackle and spark beneath the dark sky, their power paralyzing, petrifying. Magic is unheard of here, and they quiver at its potential, seeing it protect, augment, weaken, and immobilize at will. Waves of color wash over the mysterious pair, deflecting attacks and enhancing abilities, and long, hot ribbons of golden words seek out their enemies like snakes, eager for a meal. This is a weapon they do not recognize, but the wizard does not stop here; he uses his staff as a catapult, twisting and flying through the air like a bird, slipping smoothly between their blades like water. Even without the magic, he is impossible to target.

 _and they arrive at another, a world of marshes brimming with moss and vines. It is hot and humid and very different from the crisp air they just left. The vegetation here is nothing alike._  
  
There is a cloud of dust when they finish, red as the air around them. A lone warrior stands trembling before the pair, unsure of whether the red or blue gaze is more dangerous.

“I’m tired,” the magician says suddenly, and Kurogane lets out an amused, albeit impatient, huff. “Could you just give us back our friends now?”

_But before they leave, Fai notes with surprise a sunflower standing stubbornly by the trunk of an enormous tree, its large face stretching to see the sun._

Kurogane only grunts, and they leave.

 

 

 

The wizard ultimately passed the test.  
 

_It happens again, and again. Snow, sand, swamp – every world is suited to its own plant life, its own flowers and trees and ferns. And yet, every time before they leave, Fai manages to find another sunflower, a tall, beaming spirit always turned towards its namesake._

  
He survived. And not just because he was afraid of pain.

  
But because it was clear that he wanted to.

_  
And every time, a warm smile crosses his face, as bright and big as the flower that inspired it._

 

  
 

_Kurogane knows that he knows, but is pretending not to. But that’s all right, because that’s how they work, that’s how they’ve always worked, and for once it doesn’t faze him knowing that they’re dancing around each other again._

_  
Because even though Kurogane will never say it aloud, he would plant fields and fields of sunflowers to make sure that smile never disappeared._

 


End file.
